Ease up on Mary Garvey. She is asking a perfectly reasonable question. It would, in fact, have been possible. F__k political leanings and previous thread disputes - it is theoretically possible that people could have been given better warning. Can we please admit that so that next ime it will be better?

And, for the record, no one has (or could) say that the USA is to blame. Nature's power makes the USA look puny in the extreme. This is a global, HUMAN catastrophe. Let's all be good humans in our response.